


Marked

by TruthfulDeceiver



Series: Short Stories [SPM] [7]
Category: Super Paper Mario (Game)
Genre: Gen, asking the serious questions here, huh, is it major character death if the character is in hell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-15
Updated: 2018-04-15
Packaged: 2019-04-23 06:50:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14326929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TruthfulDeceiver/pseuds/TruthfulDeceiver
Summary: sjlkdfs im tired but i wrote something! dimentio’s experience in hellCharacters: Dimentio, Charold





	Marked

“I can tell you’re new here, you better wake up!”

Dimentio pushed himself to his feet, his eyes flickering between the Shaydes who spoke and the strange environment. This husk was terribly familiar, but the jester held his skeptical gaze.

“Let me do you a favor.” The thing spoke, but its voice was distant. It was locked in routine of its former self, trapped to do nothing more. “The River Twygz is up ahead. Got it? Be careful, don’t drown…”

“River Twygz?” Dimentio repeated in disbelief. He’d heard stories, but surely, it couldn’t be so horrible.

It gave an empty laugh. “Though, you could go to Queen Jaydes” It pointed in behind itself, trying to direct him there.

Hastily, Dimentio walked away instead. He wasn’t going to alert Jaydes of his presence any more than his mere arrival did. He made his way to the river, his movements freezing as soon as he saw a hand reaching up out of the water toward him.

Dimentio took a step back, looking to the ferry.

“Thisss is the River Twygz,“ The navigator smiled at Dimentio with a false inviting demeanor, "Its watersss are the tearsss of centuriesss of sinnersss… four coinsss?”

Quickly, the jester handed over the money. He fearfully continued watching the hand that was still reaching for him as he got on the ferry.

It wasn’t much better, but it was an improvement from having to swim through this body of… water. If it could even be called such. Many more hands were attempting to drown the boat, and Charold simply kicked them away.

Dimentio wished he’d saved a bit of his magic for himself, but, no, he left a remnant of it for the Chaos Heart and the rest was used in a desperate attempt to keep some part of him alive so he could escape this Hell. Eventually.

He promised himself he wouldn’t stay down here for so long that he’d become as empty as all those other Shaydes.

“I’ve never seen them so desperate to get someone.” Charold laughed, his sickening smile widening.

“Who are you?”

“Should it matter?” Dimentio countered, “I paid the unlucky fee for a ride, not a conversation.”

“Ah, yesss… Very well.”

A few more moments of silence until the ferry stopped. The ghostly hands grabbed hold of it, stopping it in place. It didn’t help that Charold seemed to direct them to where Dimentio was to keep them away from himself.

“Tell me, isss your name a portmanteau?”

Dimentio glared at the ferryman. He was trying to make sure he didn’t take up very much space. He wasn’t going to be pulled into the waters and be drowned. He wasn’t going to let himself be erased just yet.

“Your name.” Charold was still insistent for an answer. His eyes were glistening with interest. This jester was the first one who refused to answer his question.

Charold waited for an answer within the silence. Dimentio slowly covered where his ears seemed to be, trying to look away from the hands that were emerging more and more from the waters.

“Silence them.” Dimentio whispered, almost inaudible.

The ferryman was used to the quietness, though, so he had an easy time hearing that small request. “Perhapsss…” He smirked, “Tell your name, then.”

“N-Not my mask?” A false laugh, Dimentio couldn’t believe that for once in his life, they didn’t care about his physical appearance as much. He couldn’t stop a fearing tone from reaching his voice, though in an attempt to hide it, he giggled once again. “How strange that is…”

Another beat of silence.

Dimentio was being pulled closer and closer to the edge of the boat. His head seemed so full of their whispers that he could barely choke out another request for them to stop.

Charold sighed impatiently, almost breaking his forced smirk. “I shall remove them.” He stated quietly before raising a hand to simply brush those ghosts away.

When Dimentio was released, he seemed even more fidgety than normal. A smile was back on his broken mask, his hands were holding eachother as he tried to keep them as still as possible. He was still silent.

“Tell me, then, what seemsss… to be your name?”

“Damien.” Dimentio quickly answered. A random name he picked from his past, unsure of how he had even come across it.

Charold gave an eerie smile. “I see… you’re acquainted with him.”

“What?” Dimentio asked breathlessly.

“Nothing. I was listening to  _them.”_ Charold stood over Dimentio, still slightly taller when on the same level. “Why you would fear Blumiere, however….” A small chuckle. 

“Oh, how delightful…” Dimentio murmured sarcastically, turning away from Charold. He sat down, exhausted. His arms hung at his sides.

“The real question is how you got so many disrupted souls to notice your presence.” Charold continued, offering a hand to Dimentio. “How did you get so many angered souls to devote their aftergame to destroying you eternally?”

Dimentio glanced towards the waters, the tip of the hands beginning to show once again. He had to give an answer.

“The last dark magician…” Dimentio mumbled, not even wanting to hear those words in his own voice. It was completely intolerable. Of course, down here, he would have to face all the wrongs he did while alive head on. In some way or another. Unfortunately.

Charold laughed uncontrollably, holding his sides. He couldn’t believe it! This runt? A dark magician? He’d seen the wildest things in his time serving Queen Jaydes, but this boy couldn’t come close to it!

Yet… Charold stopped his laughter as Dimentio glared at him. That mask. There was a part of a scar showing on that boy’s face in the place it broke off. Those voices kept screaming bloody murder, asking for Charold to send the magician down to them so his game would be completely erased and they could be at ease.

The last time he had so many people screaming at him was the last time Jaydes gave a second life to someone definitely undeserving. To have fifty people reaching for you was an achievement in one life, but an average if you’ve gone through it twice.

This “little boy” had at least a thousand who came from the darkest depths themselves asking for revenge.

“You thought I wanted to ask about your mask.” Charold grinned once again, “And now I am. Please remove it.”

“It’s not there, if that’s what you’re asking.” Dimentio snapped back immediately, holding a hand to cover the bit of his mask that had been blown off.

Of course, it would’ve been a death sentence to have swam through the water in his case, but staying this long with someone so  _insistent_  on finding out who he was could mean his punishment would come early. Jaydes would have an easier time catching him…

“If I show you it, will you just let me cross with nothing else?” Dimentio asked, slowly taking down his hand from the mask. He looked toward the waters, only glancing back to the ferryman.

“Yesss.” Charold agreed, eyes full of mischief.

Dimentio removed one of his gloves, pulling up his sleeve. It revealed a scar similar to the symbol seen on the Dark Prognosticus. After Charold recognized it, Dimentio put everything back to how it was.

“So you are one of the Tribe of Ancientsss…” The ferryman gave another laugh, smiling widely. “Jaydesss hasss a special place for you.”

“Take me across.” Dimentio wearily hung his head, feeling sick. It was the first person in years that had seen that symbol of his; the mark of the Ancients. The only people with competent dark magic users.

“Jaydes will find me eventually, I just want some freedom until then.”

“How interesting.” Charold murmured at that addition, “Yesss… Well, let usss go.”

The boat continued without much interruption. Although, it was painfully slow.

Dimentio was glad to finally leave, blocking out whatever departing phrase Charold gave. After this experience, his mind went back to those sour times. Things he didn’t want to remember.

He was Dimentio, the jester, the fool. He was an actor, he wasn’t allowed the pleasure of genuine happiness as long as he was to live in reality. He wasn’t allowed to form genuine bonds. He was _Dimentio,_ a two-faced, filthy liar.

Even to himself.

This Dimentio couldn’t be a part of the Ancients, not after the incident with the Prognosticus. Not after his father removed all the happy times foretold in the future and made the Last Prophecy. The void.

They gave it to the Tribe of Darkness as their kind was driven to madness, a madness not even Dimentio could escape in exile. He needed that book.

Dimentio could feel its presence. It was here, yes, but so far away.

Soon, Dimentio would make them understand. He would return to life, and make sure they all understood. The void was impossible to escape.

Eventually, the void would destroy all.

Dimentio just hoped there would be a new world afterwards.


End file.
